@nijuunisai reblogged my post celebrating 3,000 followers! Thank you!
Hey nijuunisai! I recognize your name from the Japanese langblr community so thank you very much for the reblog ^^ It seems like we have a lot in common- I also studied Spanish in addition to Japanese, and I also really like j-pop and j-rock, and I love manga and using it as a way to study Japanese!! Unfortunately none of that has anything to do with the kanji I’d like to share with you（ww）
I found a kanji recently that I think is super interesting, so while this isn’t meant to be related to you or your blog, I hope you find it interesting too!
The kanji I want to share with you is 嗽 / 漱 !
I didn’t realize until just now that it had two forms, so that’s extra interesting!!
漱・嗽 ugai gargling; rinsing one's mouth
The parts/radicals in this kanji from right to left are 次 (lack, gap, fail, yawning radical), 木 and 口 but I’d argue for 束 (bundle; bunch; sheaf), and 氵(water) in one version and 口 (mouth) in the other version. Between the yawning, water, and mouth, it does seem like a fair representation of gargling!
嗽 (ugai) is the noun for gargling, but there’s also these verbs that are written the same but pronounced differently:
漱ぐ susugu to rinse (one's mouth); to gargle
漱ぐ kuchisusugu to gargle; to rinse (the mouth)
Given the following words in which it appears, it appears 嗽 with 口 is the more common writing:
含嗽 gansou gargling; rinsing one's mouth
含嗽剤 gansouzai mouthwash
うがい薬 ugai-gusuri mouthwash <- This is by far the most common way to say ‘mouthwash’
含嗽薬 gansouyaku gargle medicine; mouthwash
咳嗽 gaisou cough; coughing (the more common word is 咳, seki)
But there are still some really interesting words/phrases using 漱 with 氵!
枕流漱石 or 漱石枕流 chinryuusouseki or sousekichinryuu sore loser who stubbornly refuses to admit being wrong, related to the expression 石に漱ぎ流れに枕す
Ok, well, explaining that one is WAY more complicated than I was anticipating, so here goes!
枕す makurasu is kobun, or old Japanese, that means ‘to put your head on’, ‘to make something a pillow’
So the original expression was 石に枕し流れに漱ぐ, ‘to live a hidden life in the mountains and enjoy a free lifestyle’. It literally says ‘to put your head on a stone and rinse your mouth in the flow(ing water’.
BUT during China’s Jin Dynasty, there was this guy named 孫楚 (Sonso in the Japanese reading, Sun Chu in the English reading), who mistakenly said it backwards (石に漱ぎ流れに枕す, ‘rinse your mouth with stones and lay your head on the flow(ing water)’.
To quote the entire Wikipedia article on the topic, “Sun Chu (孫楚; d. 282) was a native of Zhongdu commandery (中都縣; in present-day Pingyao) in Shanxi; who when quite young wished to become a recluse, and said to Wang Ji (王濟), "I will wash my mouth with rocks, and pillow my head on the running stream." "How will you manage that?" enquired Wang, smiling at his slip of the tongue. "Oh," replied Sun, not the least taken aback, "I will use the rocks for tooth powder, and the stream to cleanse my ears." He had passed his fortieth year before he entered upon an official career. Rising to high military command, he was received at an audience by the Emperor; but he absolutely refused to kneel, and would do no more than bow, alleging that a guardian of the Throne should never let himself be at a disadvantage.[1]” And that’s how this phrase got the meaning of “someone who refuses to admit their mistake.”
So basically, this is that meme of your friends in group chat repeating that typo you made, for 1800 years
There’s also the fall less interesting phrase 盥漱 kansou washing one's hands and rinsing one's mouth. This would seem to relate to the idea of doing temizu at Shinto shrines in Japan, but it only seems to appear in 角盥漱 tsunohanzou, the name of a youkai that appeared in a collection of artwork by Toriyama Sekien.
Well, that sure was a deep dive. I definitely learned something, so I hope you did too! Thanks for the reblog and good luck with your studies!
If you’d like a personalized kanji post, check out my follower spree here!
